Method of mass-producing paper &#34;tear sheets&#34; and the like



April 10, 1956 w. J. MEYER, JR 2,741,303

METHOD OF MASS-PRODUCING PAPER "TEAR SHEETS" AND THE LIKE Filed April 2, 1954 INVENTOR William l jlle yei', J21,

BY A ORNEY United States Patent METHOD OF MASS-PRODUCING PAPER "FEAR SHEETS AND THE LIKE William J. Meyer, In, Hyattsvilie, Md.

Application April 2, 1954, Serial No. 420,653

4 Claims. (Cl. 164-17) This invention relates to paper sheets, leaves, envelopes, etc. and has for its principal object the provision of a method whereby such elements, having an irregular edge or edges closely simulating hand-torn edges, may be quickly and efliciently mass-produced at considerably less cost than by the manual procedures heretofore employed. Since it has been developed primarily for the production of advertising tear sheets, for purposes of disclosure the invention will be herein described in connection therewith as a specific example, but it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the underlying principles are equally applicable to other analogous paper products.

In direct mail advertising it is frequently the practice to employ enclosures comprising reproductions of printed matter, drawings, pictures, and the like, which have originally appeared in a magazine, newspaper, book or pamphlet having a more or less general circulation, which reproductions are provided with one or more torn edges to give the impression that they have actually been torn from the original publication. Such reproductions are known to the trade as tear sheets, and heretofore the usual mode of preparation has been to print the material on one or both sides of ordinary rectangular sheets of paper; assemble batches of the printed sheets into pads, as by stapling a number of superimposed sheets along one edge; and then manually tearing one or more sheets at a time from the pads, the tear being made along the stapled edge. Since the sheets are not scored or perforated the torn edge of no two of them is identical, thus giving an individualistic character to each of them. However, as there is no particular control of the tearing it may take a direction not intended, extending into and removing portions of the printed area, thus rendering the sheet unsuitable for its intended purpose and requiring its discard.

The present invention provides a method of mass-producing these tear sheets and analogous products which eliminates the slow and therefore relatively expensive step of manually tearing the sheets, one or two at a time, from a pad thereof, but which nevertheless results in a product having individualistic irregular edges closely resembling the like edges of hand-torn sheets.

Essentially the procedure comprises arranging a batch of the printed sheets or other elements in a stack or pile, and then traversing such stack along the flat side face of a moving serrated member, such as a circular saw or a band saw, with a lateral face of the stack in engagement with the teeth of said member and with the traverse being in a direction opposite to that in which material would normally be fed to the saw in an ordinary sawing operation.

The method is illustrated, more or less diagrammatically, in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which:

Figure l is a side elevational view showing a circular saw blade with a pile of sheets in their initial position relative thereto;

2,741,308 Patented Apr. 10, 1956 Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. l, with an advanced position of the pile of sheets being indicated in dotted lines; 7 V

Fig. 3 is an end elevational view, as seen from the left of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the finished sheets.

As will be readily understood from Figs. 1-3, a multiplicity of the sheets or other elements S are superposed in a pile 5, which is positioned on a table or other support 6 adjacent a power driven saw blade 7, with a lateral face 8 of the pile in slightly angular or convergent relationship to the flat side face 9 of the saw. The pile of sheets is then moved bodily along said saw face in a direction in general parallel to the face 8 of the pile and with said face in contact with the saw teeth, such traverse being in a direction which is the reverse of that in which material would ordinarily be advanced to the saw. That is to say, with the saw rotating counterclockwise as indicated by the arrow A in Fig. 1, in a normal sawing operation material would be fed to the saw from left to right (as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2), whereas under the present procedure the translation is from right to left, as indicated by the arrow B.

During the traverse the pile of sheets is bodily oscillated in a substantially horizontal plane, i. e., the plane of the top of the table or support 6, as indicated by the arrow C in Fig. 2, thereby varying the angularity of the pile face 8 relative to the saw face 9 and causing the saw teeth to cut to difierent depths and produce an irregular edge, as indicated at 10 in Fig. 2. The pile of sheets may also be flexed during the traverse to produce transverse curving or warping, as indicated in dotted and broken lines in Fig. 3, whereby the depth of cut made by the saw teeth varies from top to bottom of the pile.

The movements of the sheets relative to the saw may be accomplished by an operator grasping the pile of sheets in his hands and bodily traversing it from right to left with its lateral face 8 in contact with the teeth at the left hand side of the saw, during which reverse traverse he manipulates the pile to produce the horizontal oscillations and the transverse curvatures thereof above mentioned. While the configuration of the various irregularities thus produced along the edge of the several sheets of a batch will be similar, because of said transverse curvature or warping of the pile the irregularities will vary in depth from sheet to sheet and thus a measure of individualism will be given to each sheet. Furthermore, since the operators manipulation of no two batches will be the same, the individual characteristics of the sheets of different batches will be more marked.

The reverse traverse of the batches of sheets relative to the saw, i. e., from right to left, is important since it has been found to produce an edge closely resembling that of a manually torn sheet, with substantially no hits of paper (saw dust) clinging thereto, and with the fibers of the paper projecting and clearly visible as in the case of a manual tear. It also is virtually impossible to pro-perly manipulate the pile of sheets in the manners above indicated if it be attempted to traverse it relative to the saw in the normal way, i. e., from left to right.

What is claimed is:

l. The method of mass-producing simulated hand-torn tear sheets and analogous paper products, which comprises reversely traversing a batch of superimposed sheets of paper along the side face of a moving edge-serrated cutting member, with a lateral face of the batch of sheets in convergent relation to said cutting member face and in engagement with the teeth of the member; and nonuniformly manipulating the batch of sheets relative to said cutting member during said traverse while maintainamines ing.said engagementnvhereby tocausesaid teeth to produce irregular indentations: in said batch face.

2. The method of mass-producing simulated hand-torn tear sheets and analogous'paper products, which comprises reversely traversing a batch of superiinposed'sheets of paper along the side face of a moving edge-serrated cutting-member, with a lateral face of the batch of sheets in convergent relation to said cutting member. face and in contact With the teeth of the member; and varying said convergent relation of the batch of sheets to the cutting member during said traverse While maintaining said contact, whereby to cause said teeth-to produce irregular indentations in said batch face.

3. The method of mass-producing simulated hand-torn tear sheets and analogous paperproducts, Which'comprises reverselytraversing a-batch-of superimposed sheets of paper along the side face of a moving edge-serrated cutting member, with a lateral face of'the batch of sheets in convergent relation to said cutting member face and in contact with the'teeth of the member; and Warping that portion of the'bateh of sheetswhich presents said .lateral face during said'traverseto cause said teeth to produce indentations'ofvarying depth in said batch face.

4.. The. method of. mass:producing. torn edged) paper elements simulating manually-torn elements, which comprises disposing a batch of superimposed paper elements adjacent a moving edge-serrated cutting member, with a lateral face of said batch in convergent relation to a side face of said member; rev ersely traversing the batch of elements along said sideface of the cutting member in a direction-in general parallel to said batchface-and with such face in" engagement with'the teeth of the cutting member; and oscillating the batch of elements during the traverse while'simultaneously Warping that portion of. the batch which .presents.saidlateralfaceto cause said teeth to cut irregular indentations in said batch face.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,280,753 Juenjst Oct. 8, 1918 1,914,528 Reid June 20, 1933 1,988,208 Martin Ian. 15, 1935 2,646,726 Fogg July 28, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 273,086 Switzerland Apr. 16, 1951 ut b a 

